Because of the pandemic, the annual gala had to be canceled. That was to have been May 21.

Instead, Thursday, May 21, will be the day the winners are announced. The organizers are giving themselves an extra day on either side of May 21 in case there is a problem. So check with the Crime Writers of Canada’s web site.

Many of Canadian mysteries are well read in the U.S.

The Arthur Ellis Awards was established in 1984 and named after the nom de travail of Canada's official hangman.

Here are the nominees for published works released in 2019. Mystery Scene sends our congratulations.

Best Crime Short Story sponsored by Mystery Weekly with a $300 prizeY.S. Lee, In Plain Sight, Life is Short and Then You Die, Macmillan Publishers Peter Sellers, Closing Doors, Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine Zandra Renwick, The Dead Man's Dog, Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine

Best Nonfiction Crime BookKatie Daubs, The Missing Millionaire: The True Story of Ambrose Small and the City Obsessed with Finding Him, MacClelland & Stewart Kevin Donovan, The Billionaire Murders, Penguin Random House Debra Komar, The Court of Better Fiction, Dundurn Press Vanessa Brown, The Forest City Killer: A Serial Murderer, a Cold-Case Sleuth, and a Search for Justice, ECW Press Charlotte Gray, Murdered Midas: A Millionaire, His Gold Mine, and a Strange Death on an Island Paradise, HarperCollins Publishers Ltd

The Unhanged Arthur Award for Best Unpublished Crime Manuscript sponsored by Dundurn Press with a $500 prizeB.L. Smith, Bert Mintenko and the Serious BusinessK.P. Bartlett, Henry's BombMax Folsom, One Bad Day After AnotherLiz Rachel Walker, The Dieppe LettersPam Barnsley, The River Cage

Grand MasterThe Grand Master Award is presented biennially to recognize a Canadian crime writer with a substantial body of work who has garnered national and international recognition.

In announcing the Grand Master award, the Canadian Crime Writers stated: “Since Peter Robinson’s first mystery, Gallows View, appeared in 1987, his growing readership has eagerly waited for each encounter with Detective Chief Inspector Alan Banks. Now with 27 of these moody and layered police procedurals, fans around the world have become attached to the complex, music-loving DCI Banks and his always-intriguing colleagues in the fictional town of Eastvale in North Yorkshire.

“They’ve followed Banks, his twisty cases, his career challenges and the ups and downs of his personal life with interest and affection. The series has also been adapted to television by ITV.

“Peter has a shelf full of Crime Writers of Canada Arthur Ellis Awards for both best novel and for best short story. Internationally he’s been honoured by Le Grand Prix de Littérature Policière (France), the Martin Beck Award (Sweden), the Palle Rosenkrantz (Denmark), the CWA Dagger in the Library (UK) and the American Macavity, Edgar and Barry awards. In 2010, he was presented with the Crime Writers of Canada Derrick Murdoch Award for contributions to the crime genre.,” according to a release from the Crime Writers.